Reino Animal

ANIMAL KINGDOM is another slice of gruelling nastiness that comes to us courtesy of our Australian cousins. It's not quite as downbeat and depressing as SNOWTOWN, although it gets close at times. This elaborate thriller is about a sprawling family of ne'er-do-wells and no-good criminals and what happens when a young and innocent relation is brought into the fold.

It's not really the narrative that's important here, although there are a number of fresh situations and off-hand moments that make it stand out (that opener is a real clincher). It works best when delivering a series of shocks and sudden twists that the viewer certainly doesn't see coming. No, it's the characterisation where ANIMAL KINGDOM really shines; this is a film for actors, showcasing a number of realistic performances from the cast.

Ben Mendelsohn is the one who really stands out in his star-making turn as the thoroughly creepy guy at the top of the chain, while Joel Edgerton and Sullivan Stapleton bring depth to their otherwise thuggish roles. James Frecheville plays it quiet and understated as the lead although the reliable Guy Pearce shines as a cop. Jacki Weaver may play one of the most understated and nasty characters ever. It's a decent film, certainly more compelling than most things Hollywood put out these days.

One of those movies that grabs you from the excellent opening credits as the camera pans over security camera stills of a gang of Melbourne thugs robbing banks. The audience, which was rustling noisy junk food through the previews, fell silent very quickly.

Jackie Weaver as the Matriarch of this crime family was amazing.

It felt a little "talkie" until about half way through, but there is tension right from the beginning that carries you through. Every character is connected to every other as if by springs quivering with tension or compression and the movie really delivers holding the resolution to the final frame where everything shifts into a new alignment.

I really enjoyed Animal Kingdom, it does not glamorize the life of these crims the way Underbelly or Sopranos does, and the cops reflect the dirty history of the Melbourne's finest too (Guy Pearce reprising his role in LA Confidential as a rare Mr Clean). Overall I think David Simon (The Wire) would approve of Animal Kingdom.

Anyone who has wondered how murderers can be loved by their Moms (isn't that most everyone?) should see this movie, it isn't a TV experience it really works well on the big screen.

The backdrop to this movie is Melbourne, Australia in the mid-1980's, which (according to the director) had one of the highest per-capita murder rates in the world. At the time, there were several deaths in Melbourne in which wanted and suspected criminals were killed by the police under suspicious circumstances. These killings in turn supposedly ignited a slew of retaliatory murders perpetrated on police officers (cf. the "Walsh Street" police shootings).

This is a movie about a young man (Josh or "J," played by James Frecheville) whose extended family are all criminals. Using the character of seventeen-year-old J as a sort of catalyst, the movie explores a variety of crime-related issues, from the effects of growing up in a world where criminal activity is the norm, to the escalation of crime that is a natural consequence of vigilantism (especially when the vigilantes are police).

The characters are all played very well, with exceptionally good performances given by Ben Mendelsohn, Jackie Weaver, Sullivan Stapleton and young James Frecheville in his debut as J.

While "Animal Kingdom" starts slowly (perhaps -too- slowly for some), it continually builds in intensity throughout the entire movie, culminating with an ending that is both shocking and yet inevitable. In particular, the movie has a very compelling scene played perfectly by Mendelsohn, with an awesome supporting role played by Luke Ford - I'm sure this scene repulsed many in the audience (it certainly repulsed me). At first, I feared that the scene was added by the director merely as a gratuitous exploitation of the audience's emotions. However, as the movie progresses, the scene's outcome becomes an integral part of the plot development, and is therefore necessary for the completion of the main story.

This movie will not be for everybody - the subject matter and the honest way in which the movie portrays it made the movie somewhat taxing at times to sit through. However, I think those willing to consider the necessity of telling the story of "Animal Kingdom" will find the movie entertaining and thought-provoking - I certainly did.

"Animal Kingdom" is a highly respected Australian film that's apparently received a HUGE number of nominations for the Australian Film Awards--as well as an Oscar nomination for Jacki Weaver (as the matriarch of the family--who did a great job playing pure evil). And, I must say that technically speaking, it is a very good film. However, I must also say that it's a thoroughly unpleasant film that really had no payoff by the end. In many ways, it reminds me of "Winter's Bone"--though I think "Winter's Bone" handles similar material in a better and much more satisfying way.

The film centers on Josh (James Frecheville)--a very quiet and introverted young man who comes from an incredibly sick and twisted family. The film begins with his mother overdosing from drugs and he moves in with his grandmother and his uncles--and this new home is MUCH more destructive and sick! The uncles all sell drugs and are very violent men--and eventually the police home in on these sick folks and then things get REALLY crazy. I could say a lot more, but I don't want to ruin the suspense.

While I like films that fight against convention and formula, I had a problem with this film that you perhaps might not. I wanted all this sickness and dysfunction to somehow work out for the good and for there to be SOME sense of meaning. Instead, the ending just reinforced the complete lack of meaning and left me very cold. Well made but VERY depressing and unsatisfying--it's hard to like a movie where you really don't like anyone.

After his mother dies, 17 year old J comes to live with his estranged grandmother and uncles, a family of felons. He enters the animal kingdom of suburban crime and stumbles through a minefield of sociopaths, cops and lawyers, all claiming to protect him. J soon learns though that trust means nothing when people are desperate.

This is a dramatic, well-made film that haunts the mind. Highly cinematic, meticulously crafted, thrilling and poignant in equal measure. The director emphasises realistic dialogue, multi-dimensional characters and underplays violence. Still, the film is palpably tense, there are scenes that will leave you shaking, even where there is no bloody payoff. As the body count builds even a car slowly reversing down a driveway becomes a menacing sight. The ending is satisfying.

The film is very well acted, young Frecheville keeps it natural and holds his own amongst titanic performances from veteran Aussies. Mendelsohn as Uncle Pope is particularly brilliant, dressed at Christmas from Lowes, this dorky suburban thug bullies the weak (including his passive younger brother Darren, unhappily entrenched in a life he cannot escape from), and who's confrontational behaviour springs from a deep well of paranoia. His maladjusted moral compass so skewed he frequently crosses into psychopathic territory. And yet he remains all too human, he's a mundane monster. Weaver too, leaves a memorable impression, where revelations abound in the film's third act.

My only complaint is that I would have liked to have seen a courtroom scene that is left to the imagination, we see corrupt police in action, why not a demonstration of hypocrisy in the justice system too? But this is a minor whinge in the grand scale of this ambitious story.